WordGirl
WordGirl is the titular main protagonist of the PBS animated series of the same name. She is a superhero whose superpowers and abilities include flying at the speed of sound, super hearing, super strength, invulnerability, and a comprehensive vocabulary, of which she teaches people. She also battles villains in her hometown of Fair City along with her monkey sidekick, Captain Huggy Face. Her alter ego is mild-mannered 10 (later 11)-year-old fifth grade student Becky Botsford, who attends Woodview Elementary School. WordGirl can instantly change into her suit, and back again into her adopted human identity (depending on the scenario) by touching her shirt where her emblem would be, and speaking her catchphrase, “Word up!”. Background WordGirl is an alien from the planet Lexicon, and as a baby somehow accidentally wandered onto a spaceship piloted by Lexiconian Air Force pilot Captain Huggy Face. While test flying the ship, Huggy was startled by WordGirl after she woke up, thus causing the ship to collide with an asteroid, which forced them to crash land somewhere on planet Earth (where the ship permanently remains as their Super Secret Spaceship Hideout). WordGirl was eventually found and adopted by a couple named Tim and Sally Botsford, who decided to name their then newly adopted daughter "Becky", while Huggy was adopted as their pet and named him "Bob". Another member of the Botsford family, TJ, would also become Becky's younger brother. Despite growing up in a normal life, WordGirl displayed her keen intelligence at an early age, shown when she once read a Sunday newspaper and doing the crossword puzzle therein on the front doorstep of the Botsford residence, where she was found by Tim and Sally (even though another flashback shows that the Botsfords found her in the woods). Eventually, she took up her current identification as WordGirl. Routine WordGirl As well as having the usual superhero traits, such as flying, super strength, and invulnerability, for example, WordGirl also has the dictionary completely memorized, and so has the knack to define, correct, or pronounce any word possible. Her main weakness, however, is Lexonite, a substance originating from her home planet that causes her to mispronounce, misuse, or misdefine a word, and also eliminates her other capabilities. Becky Botsford As Becky, she spends her time reading, going to school, decorating her dollhouse, collecting ponies and unicorns, and trying to hide her secret identity. Her lone setbacks are that she is not good at dancing, and she struggles with art and charades, but is a great singer. No one is aware of WordGirl's true identity, with the exception of Captain Huggy Face (who gets mad when TJ says things about him), Bampy Botsford (Becky's grandfather), and the narrator, who, of course, gets to see everything. Appearance WordGirl WordGirl has shoulder length dark brown hair and light brown skin. Her outfit, helmet, gloves and boots are in different varieties of red (her gloves and boots being dark red, for example), has a golden cape, 2-way communication belt and her symbol in the middle of her outfit is a yellow star against a red shield; when she strikes an enemy or shoots into the sky, she leaves a twinkling star at the end of her sonic streak, similar to the trail of a shooting star. Becky Botsford As Becky Botsford, she wears a green V-neck shirt, purple skirt and headband, and knee length socks with black and white shoes. Connection Despite obvious similarities, only a few others have made the connection; in the episode "Two-Brains Forgets", the villain does find out and tells Becky’s family, but they all forget when they are hit with his amnesia ray, which is redirected toward a mirror by TJ, thanks to his WordGirl boomerang and hits everyone but WordGirl and Captain Huggy Face. Scoops realizes that Becky doubles as WordGirl when she runs into him, forgetting that she is still wearing the WordGirl cape; Scoops observes that she’s also worn the costume frequently, having chosen WordGirl as her Halloween costume. However, his suspicions dissipate when Becky painstakingly misdefines a word in the episode "Vocab Bee". At one point, in the episode "Becky’s Birthday", her parents begin to make the connection, but just when they are about to figure it out, Captain Huggy Face (a.k.a. Bob) distracts them by getting wrapped up in party decorations. In some short episodes, Tobey thinks Becky is WordGirl and tries to destroy her house with a robot, but Captain Huggy Face, disguised as WordGirl, shows up and Becky picks him up and destroys the robot. Also, in the episode "Big's Big Bounce", Becky knows the definition of the word "boost", and Mr. Big becomes suspicious for a while. Becky reveals her identity to her dad and TJ in the two-part episode "WordGirl Makes a Mistake", but they don’t believe her. In the episode "Bampy Battles Bots", Becky's grandfather, Bampy Botsford, figures out her identity, but promises to keep it a secret only between them. In the episode, "By Jove, You've Wrecked My Robot", Tobey realizes Becky's identity by her shoes. However, she outsmarts him by using a WordGirl doll. Interests Even though she may be a superhero, Becky has a love for ponies and unicorns, as any typical fifth grade girl would. Her favorite book is “Princess Triana” (a parody of the Harry Potter series of books), while her favorite TV show is "The Pretty Princess and Magic Pony Power Hour". Trivia *WordGirl seems to be an affectionate parody of Superman: Both came to Earth as infants, both share powers of superhuman strength and speed, flight, and super hearing, and both are vulnerable to radioactive fragments from their home worlds. *The series' title character and her alter ego is voiced by Dannah Phirman; though producers originally wanted Reese Witherspoon for the role. Phirman was chosen for her knack to nail her scripts in one take.[3] *WordGirl also seems to be an admirer of the famous historical American lexicographer Noah Webster, as evidenced when Tobey shows her a Webster’s 1806 First Edition dictionary in the episode “Have You Seen the Remote?”. *One of WordGirl's emergency plan numbers, 619 (used in the episode "Kids Action News"), could be a reference to the finishing move, "The 619", used by famous professional wrestler Rey Mysterio in WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment). 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